EDITOR’S LETTER

I was lying in bed awake at 4.30 on a dark Tuesday morning when this photograph of Diego Maradona Whatsapped its way into my life.

I spent a long time laughing and punching the air because we’d just sent Andy Mitten off to the most dangerous part of Mexico the night before, on the off chance he could get to the infamous footballing legend. I didn’t expect to see Diego lying around on a pitch at Dorados 24 hours later, reading our Marcelo Bielsa feature. As Swansea full-back Dylan Thomas once said, ambition is critical. Andy’s story is on page 64 and it was a thrill to publish it. Manchester United fans might be delighted with Diego's ambitions for their club.

The Women’s World Cup is upon us and we’ve interviewed five of the Lionesses for this month’s cover story about their hopes for the tournament. It’s the first time women players have appeared exclusively on FFT'S cover, and Suzanne Wrack and Anna Kessel’s pieces on the England girls give you everything you need to know about Phil Neville’s team. The more football there is the better as far as I’m concerned, and let’s hope that by the end of the month, Fran Kirby, Jill Scott, Keira Walsh, Demi Stokes and captain Steph Houghton are household names.

With your help we are continuing to build and develop FFT, with Fourfourtwo.com now doing three times more traffic a week than it was at the start of March. That’s some increase. In the print magazine this month, we have introduced

The Players Lounge, a six-page section that guarantees four more football interviews per issue. Meanwhile, the old favourites are still going well: Luther Blissett’s Ask A Silly Question is excellent and we have a cracking in-depth profile of Barcelona legend Carles Puyol. If you want to make sure you never miss an issue, the latest subs offer is on page 38.

It’s been an amazing end to the football season, but we’ll be going strong online, on social and in print across the summer.

Enjoy the mag.